First day of school and Eclipse

We are in it now. School is back in session. I can't believe how fast the summer has flown by! I feel like I barely had any break at all. Another couple of weeks would have been nice.

Neil is starting 2nd grade. His teacher this year is Mrs. Stanley. I was really happy with his placement. I think she will be really good for him this year. He was happy to see several of his friends who were also in his class. When I picked him up after the day ended he said, "I had a 100% super awesome day!"

Grace is starting 4th grade. Her teacher is Ms. Holck. When she first found out her teacher she was in tears. She had her hopes set on someone else. I tried to ease her fears, but I too had my own reservations. Then she found out her best friend was also in the class. After that she resolved that it didn't matter who she had as long as she had a friend. I was still a bit apprehensive, but after her first day she was bubbling with enthusiasm. She loved the teacher. So for now I think I will see how it goes. I'm glad she is happy.

Claire is now in 7th grade. I just can't even believe how much she has grown up over the last year. She is looking more and more like a young adult everyday. She is almost my height and we can pretty much wear the same clothes. She is taking orchestra again this year along with STEM. This means she will have zero period PE every single day. That means 7:30 start time. Oh boy. She is my child that would sleep til noon if I let her. I really hope we both survive this.

Our first day of school was also complicated by the fact that it was Eclipse Day. We had all been eagerly awaiting the eclipse and the school district actually purchased enough glasses for every student. I was a bit concerned about my kids (mostly Neil) using the glasses correctly and heeding the safety warnings. I decided to just go to the school to help supervise him during the activity.

It was pretty fun to be out at the school where everyone was out seated on the blacktop staring up at the sky with their special glasses. The teachers were able to teach about the rare event and all of the kids really enjoyed it. I was a bit disappointed in our view from here. We were only about 75% in our area. I regret not going somewhere for the 100%. Next time I think I will make the effort.

 

Bulldogs

Soccer is in full swing. Neil was able to get on a team with the same coach from last year who is his friend's dad. Their team is the Bulldogs. This last weekend was his first 2 games. He was able to play goalie and also play on the field. He really enjoys running around with the other kids. Fingers crossed that this year he will be able to score a goal. He usually plays defense, but has it in his head that he wants to score. Go Bulldogs!

Grace's team has started up too. They haven't had a game yet, so I will introduce them when they play.

Vacation part 2 & 3

When we arrived home from Chicago, we had more fun plans lined up. The very next day my sister Keara and her hubby Jeff were at my house. He had been finishing up an internship for a company in San Jose, so they were in town for a bit. It was really fun to spend some time with them as we showed them around our little city. We went to the pool, relaxed, chatted, and mostly just hung out.

A few days later my parents arrived. They flew in late on a Friday night and on Saturday we drove to Napa to watch Grace play in her last softball tournament for the summer. It was fun to watch her play catcher again and to see her team. That same evening we drove down to Oakland because we had tickets to watch the A's play the Minnesota Twins. We had great seats in the stadium and were thankfully in the shade. It was nice to sit for a bit.

 

After the game ended, the stadium did a huge fireworks show. The theme for the night was Harry Potter. The fireworks were choreographed to HP music and it was really well done. Everyone enjoyed the show.

The next day Keara and Jeff had to head back to Utah, but my parents were still around. We went up to Napa again to watch Grace's last game. We were done early enough in the day to come back home to rest for the afternoon. Chili's was on the menu for dinner naturally. We played games, played in the backyard, and even got a little hot tub time in. Then we prepped for part 3 of our vacay.

 

My parents left for the airport around 4:30am. I drove them there and then went back home to load up our van. Around 7am we hit the road for Oregon. Talk about back to back fun! It was kinda crazy. We arrived that evening around 6 and we were exhausted. 

Our time in Oregon was extremely limited this time. We were there less than a week. We had a couple of big family get togethers, spent a day at the lake on the boat, and saw a movie. Other than that there was barely any time to go or see anyone. I was bummed that I wasn't able to see my Oregon friends. Ladies, I am planning to come back in December...so hopefully all of our schedules will allow one girls night out.

Lots of cousin time in the yard. Fun times! They all got to see baby Owen, their newest cousin.

Driving home again. We left around 6am this time. It really helped to leave a bit earlier. The girls were able to get some sleep, and Neil got to choose the movie.

We were truly tired after all of the back to back activity that we had. Once home we were able to somewhat relax a bit. The two younger ones started their second round of swim lessons and they also started soccer. Summer was bound to end.  

Chicago 2017

Our summer trip to Chicago and Indiana was a lot of fun! Here is the recap:

We left our house around 1pm and headed for the airport. It was supposed to be a direct flight that would put us into Chicago around 9pm. Everything was going perfectly fine until we were about an hour away from landing. The captain got on the intercom to inform us that we'd be making a detour to Kansas City due to thunderstorms in Chicago. So we sat out the storm for 2 hours in KC. Yay. Thankfully, they let us off the plane, but there was nothing to do or eat there. We managed to finally make it to our destination pretty late. Once we got our rental car, picked up some taco bell, and arrived at our Air BnB it was almost 2am!

Ready to fly!

The Taco Bell was across the street from Wrigley! Our house was a short walk from here,

The car that I had reserved was not there when we went to pick it up, so they gave us an upgrade. Hello brand new Yukon! It was really nice, but also very large. I had been thinking about switching out my van for one, so this was a nice test drive. The only downside was having to park such a big vehicle in the city. I decided that I would need the XL version if we ever do decide to change.

We met up with Chris's family at our Air bnb. It was fun to be able to all stay together in the same house. I would definitely do that again. We all had our own rooms and plenty of space to spread out. We made breakfast together the next morning and then headed to Wrigley Field for a tour. When we stepped outside we were immediately greeted by a wall of humidity. I don't know how we survived such weather in VA.

Neat Chicago Fire House near the field

Cub gear heaven at the fan shop.

As you can see we walked ALL over the stadium. We saw things from many perspectives and heard a bunch of history. It was interesting, but it was a pretty hot day for climbing so many stairs.

Sitting in the Cubs's dugout

After our field tour we headed towards the Navy Pier along the lake for a boat tour of Chicago. It was a little bit dramatic because we were planning on taking a shuttle and then it didn't come in time. We all had to call an Uber to take us there at the last minute. Thankfully, it worked out and we boarded our Sea Dog tour just in time.

The boat took us through the locks and onto the Chicago River. They narrated the journey to tell us all about the historic buildings and other fun facts about the city. It was a nice way to see all of the major buildings of downtown Chicago without walking or trying to drive through. At the end they took us out into the lake for a quick speed boat joy ride. 

After the boat ride and dealing with some lost keys...we had some dinner and then set off for Millenium Park. It was there that we got to see the Chicago Bean. It is this cool mirror sculpture that looks totally different when you get close to it. Pretty neat.

The next day was game day. We had been eagerly awaiting our chance to see a game at Wrigley. The weather was nice, we got there very early, and our seats were behind a column. Like right behind it. To say our view was obstructed is a major understatement. We were pretty bummed. I spoke to one of the nice older ladies who was there to help people find their seats. She suggested that we just move down a couple of rows and she could help us find better places to sit as the game started. So that's what I did. Grace and I had a great view for the entire game. After a bit others joined us as well. It turned out alright. The other bummer was the final score. A loss is not what we were hoping for. Oh well. We still had a good time.

All decked out in our Cubs gear!

You can see the column behind me, and Chris. That was where our seats actually were.

After the game we sat in traffic for a bit before making it to Lou Manati's. It is a famous Chicago Pizza place. The pizza is very deep with the fixins on the bottom with sauce on the top. It was alright, but I've decided that style is not my preference.

After dinner we drove through a crazy thunderstorm for almost 3 hours to Lafayette, Indiana. Chris's cousin John lives there with his wife April and their daughters. When we arrived it was late and the power was out. Thankfully we all just went to sleep and it came back on in the middle of the night. 

The rest of our trip was spent at their house hanging out with the family. The kids really enjoyed playing in the hammocks and our impromptu games of yard volleyball, corn hole, and even batting.  We stayed up late playing games, chatted, and ate tons of pizza. It was fun to see fireflies and enjoy being with the family.  Thank you John and April for letting us come to your home. We all had a great time!

 

 

They spent a TON of time out in the hammocks!

 

Cracker Barrel

Our flight home wasn't until about 8pm, so on our last day we woke up and had a nice breakfast and then headed out to Fair Oakes Farms. It was a beautiful day and the farms were great to see!

We were able to see the birthing barn where the cows are put when they are ready to give birth. We were lucky enough to see 2 such cows while we were there. We got to watch the whole thing. It was amazing! Claire and Neil were grossed out and didn't want to watch, but I thought it was fascinating. Even Chris enjoyed seeing the birth. 

We took a bus tour of the actual working farm. We saw where all the cows live and sleep. We got to get out and see the milking parlor up close. It was very interesting to see how they manage to make milking so efficient. 

Of course there was an ice cream shop attached. We had to try the delicious fresh ice cream and cheeses.

There were plenty of exhibits as well as hands on activities to learn more about farms and cows. It's harder than it looks to milk a cow.

Here is the baby we saw born. Only a couple hours later he was up and walking around.

There were some beautiful gardens here as well. It was such a neat place to walk around and enjoy the sunshine.

Beautiful barns! The big one below is a fancy restaurant. The roof was green. The picture doesn't do it justice. So pretty!

After the farm we headed north again back towards Chicago. We stopped off at a Carver's for lunch and then went to a candy factory. We were able to briefly see them making different gummy candies. We then had to buy a few for the plane ride home.

From there it was straight to the airport to catch the flight home. We were able to see our Oregon family one last time at the airport before heading out. Thankfully the trip home was uneventful. We arrived safely home exhausted but happy!  So much fun. We will have to do it again sometime.